While pondering stories for the "Out of the Frying Pan", I decided that there were three things that catapult me out of the pan into the fire... opinions, actions or lack there of, and emotions. The following story is about the frying pan of opinions​;​A few years ago, I was invited to guest on a US radio show “Spiritually Raw”. It was after the release of my first book “The Elf that Flew” and somehow, they had heard about my claims that I had been visited by the fairy folk.I was invited on the show to talk about my different meeting with the gnomes, fairies and elves.

I was rather scared about the prospect of being on radio and especially as I was going to be interviewed at 3 in the morning, not my finest hour for being charming, quick witted and engaging. I was expecting to find myself in the frying pan but it was in fact a very pleasant experience the hosts were lovely and seemed sincere in their appreciation of my experience. It went so well, they invited me back for the Friday panel program!

Of course, I agreed, they were obviously keen on fairy folk themselves… so again I rose at the witching hour to prepare myself to be charming and engaging once more…. However, it wasn’t so much of a pleasant panel party but the Spanish inquisition! I was out of the that frying pan in to the fire, or the firing line!

Straight to Hell​The panel consisted of a scientist, a southern fundamentalist Christian and a psychiatrist. The Christian woman said I was trafficking with the devil. I replied That I had felt nothing but loving intentions from the fairy folk and she countered with “the fairies were the devil’s minions sent to seduce me and lead me straight to hell”.

The scientist argued that there is no scientific evidence to support the existence of fairy folk. I said there was no scientific evidence of love either…. But he said it’s all woo woo and make believeWhile the psychiatrist claimed, I was clearly delusional, I assured him I was in my right mind and perhaps my mind was more open to unseen forces than his. “Yes, drugs will do that to you” he said

I had my opinions and they had their opinions… I was a delusional Satan worshipping nincompoop!I knew I would never convert them nor they me. We were never going to agree.I had remained calm under fire, I didn’t yell or scream, during the inquisition, and I thought I had been rather magnanimous with my compassion for them and their sad narrow minds…But I realised while writing this, I wasn’t being magnanimous I was SMUG and just as narrow minded and righteous as I perceived them to be. After all, I was right and they were wrong!----------------------------------------------------------------------Pondering the Frying PanAnd so I’ve been pondering opinions & frying pans How often do my opinions land me in the proverbial frying pan…. And when I defend or fight for my opinions, I find myself jumping out of the frying pan straight into the fire like over enthusiastic popcorn…

But when I find people who share my opinion, we share the same frying pan, my tribe of beans, gently simmering together, and we like a little bit of fire under us, a little heat from another tribes’ opinions, because then we can rub up against each other in our frying pan and bubble and spit in our righteous indignation.

And why do I get so hot and bothered about my opinions or other’s opinions? Do I hold so tightly to my opinions because my sense of identity is tied up with them? Could I let go of being a green leftie tree hugging hippie fairy lover and embrace being a pragmatic right wing conservative industrialist?

I didn’t study science, medicine or theology, I studied English literature and the poet William Blake said, “Without contraries there can be no forward motion” Maybe every opinion must have its contrary its, opposite. Perhaps opinions can’t exist in isolation… perhaps as Blake suggested all our opinions are driving the evolution of humanity.

All in the Pan TogetherWhat if we are all in the frying pan together, and life is the fire...and we can make like popcorn and individually shoot out of the pan into the fire to be burnt up …. Or we can be like a big pan of chili con carne… we can all just rub up and down against each other sometimes simmering sometimes bubbling. We are the beans and our opinions the spice and of course, a good chili con carne needs many different spices to give it its zing.

​So, next time I get hot and bothered about opinions, maybe I will remember the delicious spiciness of chili con carne. If there is no spice it’s not chili, it’s just boring beans, and if there’s no opinions then it’s a bland stagnant world.

Perhaps all we can do is hold our opinions a little less tightly….But hey that’s just my opinion and I might just be a delusional Satan worshipping nincompoop who talks to fairies.